MORGANTOWN — BOPARC Executive Director Melissa Wiles said the bids are in for Marilla Park’s new pool complex. 

Better yet, she added, they’re under budget. 

March-Westin, Anderson Excavating and Veritas Contracting submitted bids for the project, estimated at approximately $14 million. 

Wiles said all three bids were in the $12 million to $13 million range and are in the process of being certified and disseminated to the city’s bond counsel. 

Once certified, the BOPARC Board of Directors authorized Wiles to move forward with the lowest qualified bid. 

“Completion date is 2025, so we will be at the current Marilla Pool for another summer. Everybody cross their fingers for a great summer in 2024,” Wiles said.  

The new pool complex will replace the 65-year-old pool in lower Marilla Park with a new pool complex in the park’s upper section. 

The outdoor aquatic park will include water slides, a sprayground area, a lazy river and a deep well with a zero-grade entry. The complex will also include a pavilion and sunshade areas.  

BOPARC will also move its administrative offices up the hill to share space with the structure that will include pool concessions and mechanicals. Doing so will free up the Marilla Center for more programmatic use in the heart of a redesigned lower park. 

During its most recent meeting, the Morgantown Planning Commission voted to recommend city council’s approval of a request to subdivide a 7.17-acre parcel out of the 44-acre park in order to facilitate this project. 

City Attorney Ryan Simonton said the subdivision is a mechanism of the project’s financing, explaining the new parcel will be security for the purchasers of the bonds that will fund the work. 

Wiles said she’s anxious to get started. 

“I’m over the moon about it. I think it’s going to be great. I can’t wait until we get started,” she said. 

While the pool project is undoubtedly the largest project currently on BOPARC’s plate, it’s certainly not the only one. 

The board approved a $93,224.27 contract with Blue & Gold Contracting for the second, and larger, phase of improvements for Krepps Dog Park. 

That project is expected to close the two-acre dog park from February through mid-June. 

It will include an engineered plan for drainage that will address the muddy and wet areas of the park; upgrades to the park entry and concrete pads for new benches; new topsoil, much and seed, a dog-friendly water fountain and dead tree and stump removal.